A Northerner's take on food, travel, fashion & beyond!

Indy Man Beer Con 2015

I’d never been to the Independent Manchester Beer Convention (Indy Man Beer Con/IMBC) before which is now in it’s 4th year. So on a breezy Sunday afternoon we cycled over from Chorlton to the beautiful Victoria Baths in Victoria Park for this year’s event.

We locked up outside the impressive building which is in the process of being restored to it’s former glory – it’s such a beautiful building both inside and out and was a great venue for the event.

There were over 30 breweries in attendance on the Sunday and plenty of food traders – here are just a selection of the food and drink I enjoyed throughout the day.

We thought we’d be sensible and line our stomachs before getting too carried away with the beer, so as usual, sampled the pizza on offer. This time Honest Crust were stuffed promptly in our faces, much to our delight!

We opted for the mushroom and oh boy, it was just what the doctor ordered!

We drank a wheat beer from Black Iris Brewery, Bellini Weisse which was 5%, I must say they went beautifully together.

We then moved on to a saison from Burning Sky – another light, fruity beer with some grassy notes.

Not wanting to get too giddy on a Sunday we decided to get some more snacks to keep us afloat in the baths. This time we sampled a small cheese plate from Chorlton based deli Epicerie Ludo – it only set us back a fiver – look at that chuffing brie!!

To accompany the cheese we sampled a gooseberry pale ale which was a collaboration from IMBC vs Weird Beard Brewery. We also had a porter from Hawkshead brewery, possibly my favourite beer of the day made from tonka beans this Imperial Porter at 8.5% certainly put a smile on my face!

If you’ve never been to Indy Man Beer Con I urge you to go next year, we had such a lovely afternoon, the atmosphere was so relaxed and I discovered some absolute gems from breweries I’d never even heard of. It makes so much difference to step out of your comfort zone, try something new, and support local brewers and businesses. It’s getting the Manchester Tart seal of approval, that’s for sure!